DENVER—The Raptors knew it was a night for calm and control, for near perfect execution and a moderate pace.

They knew that if they tried to run with the Denver Nuggets that they couldn’t keep up; that if they threw the ball over the court, they would pay dearly.

For about 10 minutes, they did what they needed to do and then reality set it and it was just another typical night for the Raptors in the Mile High City.

Outscored 32-20 in a disastrous second quarter in which they committed five turnovers that led to a handful of easy buckets for the hosts, the Raptors ended up losing 113-110 at the Pepsi Center, a loss made all the more galling because a wonderful comeback fell short because the original deficit was too big.

Down 17 points with about five minutes remaining, the Raptors finally showed some fight but couldn’t come all the way back. DeMar DeRozan had a rushed three at the buzzer to tie but it went awry and Toronto lost its 14th of 18 games.

“We decided to play defence the last few minutes of the game, which is too late,” said coach Dwane Casey after the game. “That was an example of the way we can play defence, we have to do it for at least 40 to 44 minutes and not wait.

“And there’s no way we can give up 23 offensive rebounds and expect to beat anybody in the NBA.”

Casey had laid out a logical game plan early in the day, trying to make sure his team knew the importance of not getting caught up in a track meet.

“The No. 1 thing is they’re like Houston, they want to get in a rat-race, up and down game, a trade game, you score, I score,” he said.

“They’re used to playing that way. They’ll allow you to score. We want to have more of a defensive focus to start the game with, and I think whoever puts defence in the game first will win the game.”

That certainly wasn’t the Raptors, who were a step slow from almost the opening tip and put up only token resistance once the Nuggets got the game at the pace they desired.

Toronto was hammered on the boards and in transition, outrebounded an astonishing 31-14 in the first half (53-37 for the game) while the Nuggets had 19 fast-break points to two for the Raptors.

“I complimented them on their fight, they had every opportunity to give in and give up but they didn’t,” said Casey. “Again we can’t dig ourselves that big of a hole and expect to shoot our way back into the game.”

Kyle Lowry, who awoke from a slumber in the second half, engineered a lot of the comeback and finished with 24 points and seven assists. Andrea Bargnani had 23 and DeRozan 18 for the Raptors while Corey Brewer had 19, Kenneth Faried 18 and JaVale McGee 17 for Denver.

Lowry, who stumbled through another disappointing outing for most the night, found some explosiveness down the stretch.

He is not nearly as explosive or dominant as he was early in the season before injuring an ankle last month in Oklahoma City.

He is playing through some conditioning issues — trying to work some rust off, according to the coaching staff — but until he gets his lost step back there will be more so-so nights.

Lowry did come alive a bit in the second half (he had 10 points in the third quarter alone) but by that time the damage had been done.

The Raptors got off to a solid start in the first quarter but the game got steadily away from them all night. The second unit, which usually energizes a game, came up flat for most of the first half and the Nuggets rolled to a 61-44 halftime advantage.

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